Wilson Odobert to be ‘devastated’ at Tottenham after Thomas Frank decision
Wilson Odobert must re-evaluate what he is doing at Tottenham after he was overlooked by his manager, says Darren Bent.
Tottenham fell to a miserable 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest at the weekend to generate renewed doubts around the direction of travel under Thomas Frank.
Odobert remained on the bench for the full 90 minutes despite Spurs needing to chase the game in the second half.
Guglielmo Vicario was at fault for both of Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goals, with the second a cross that flew straight over the Italian and in.
Rather than attacking reinforcements Frank surprisingly brought on Ben Davies, Joao Palhinha and Lucas Bergvall just after going 2-0 down, and Bent says that should set off alarm bells for Odobert as he was ignored for the whole match.
Darren Bent says Odobert must look at himself
Frank did belatedly introduce attacking options for Tottenham when he brought on Brennan Johnson and Mathys Tel, but bizarrely he waited until the game was already lost thanks to Ibrahim Sangare adding a third before he did so.
Speaking live on talkSPORT Bent thinks the whole situation was a damning indictment on Odobert’s standing, since the young Frenchman was apparently not deemed suitable to deliver any sort of spark to the struggling Spurs attack.
“I’d be devastated, right, but partly I’d have to look at myself as well,” Bent said. “Ben Davies coming on, Palhinha coming on, Bergvall.
“If I’m Odobert and these players are coming on before me I’m thinking ‘hold on a second, I’m not doing something right here, there’s no way the manager’s first port of call should be a defender over me’.“
Odobert has made 14 appearances in the Premier League under Frank but has started just four, although the Forest defeat was only the second league fixture he hasn’t featured in, along with the 3-0 win at Everton in October.
Odobert risks career derailment amid Tottenham chaos
The fact that Frank uses the 21-year-old regularly is clearly better than the alternative, but with the Dane seemingly unsure of his best XI and whoever he selects in attack too often underachieving it doesn’t say much that Odobert struggles to crack the starting line up.
It would appear the perfect point for him to seize some initiative and make up for lost time after he was knocked out for a long stretch last term under Ange Postecoglou through injury.
| Appearances | Goals | |
| Total | 41 | 4 |
| Premier League | 30 | 1 |
| All competitions under Thomas Frank | 20 | 1 |
Instead he risks stagnating if a difficult debut season in the Premier League bleeds into a second where nobody is sure what he offers, or confident of how often he will do so.
Admittedly Frank’s choices at the City Ground were baffling all round so the fault may lie with the Dane as much as Odobert himself, but after making an understandable step up from Burnley two summers ago he could disappear amongst the shuffle if there is another managerial change and end up farmed out on loan if he isn’t careful.
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